Dates are arbitrary. We are supposedly in the year 2018. Two thousand and eighteen years since what? Of course, I know the popular answer to that, but it's no academic answer. Just like the unit of Kelvin for temperature, perhaps we should use the Big Bang as year "Zero" and count up from that, obviating any need for negative, arbitrary time such as "B.C.". But even "Big Bang Time" is an estimate. Everything is an estimate.
When I was a child I would disassemble legos and realize that my plastic castle was nothing more than a construction of smaller plastic blocks. But what were the plastic blocks made of? I would saw one in half only to have two smaller plastic blocks. How long could I do that? Eventually I learned they were made of molecules, which were made of atoms; and then I learned atoms were made of subatomic quarks, leptons, and bosons, as well as other unidentified, non-matter elementary particles; and then I learned that these subatomic particles may be just vibrating strings of energy in 11 or 12 dimensions. And so everything is just an estimate, from the momentum of an electron to our current "momentum" of arbitrary units in the space-time of 2018 on Planet Earth. It's all just an estimate.
When does life begin? When is the moment of death? What is the value of a dollar? What is the speed of an African Swallow? Of course, Einstein articulated this better than anyone in his (relatively) eponymous overtures on estimations called "Special" and "General Relatively" -- with the emphasis on "relativity". Physics aside, relativity in the form of estimates is all we have to work with in constructing our reality. Perhaps we should invite statistics to help quell our, shall we say, uncertainty. We should choose our reality (and yes -- humans really do choose a reality, oddly) based on what is most statistically consistent. For example: is the sky blue? Well, it depends on where you live and what time of day it is; in fact, the sky may rarely be blue. Ask an Alaskan in the late fall and the sky may be mostly magenta; a Beijinger may say the sky is orange and brown due to smog; right now my sky is mostly black, although living in Portland, Oregon I'm fancied to say the sky is mostly gray (which is untrue). Hence, there's so little room for absolutes in our reality.
And so as I move into this arbitrary year of 2018 years since something I'm not sure even happened (nor does anyone currently living, by the way), I'd estimate that it's most likely to be a better year for me personally simply because I statistically had a few sour, untoward years that nearly broke me. The chances of that happening yet again -- correcting even for petulant animosity mixed with irrational human emotion I hate to own -- are low. In other words, I'm optimistic about the year 13.75*10^9 because probability favors the positive manifestation of previous years hard work in career staging, songwriting and music networking, and relationship building among friends. Romantic relationship building, on the other hand, remains in complete and utter disarray, which is most likely to persist into 2018 due to my unfortunate, irrational human-cased influence overcoming statistical odds...but I can't win it all. Besides, that's what my guitar is for.
I want this year to be better than the previous three. Those were some trying, tumultuous, downright sad years -- personally, professionally, and inter-personally. Indeed, it takes a mindset to actualize on opportunity, and I recognize that not all that happens is chance. We do largely own our destinies, at least when we're given such grand opportunities as what I've had growing up when and where and I did: middletown America during one of the longest non-war stretches in a generations. But chance plays a role too, no doubt. And if you've got the resources -- i.e. tenacity -- then you keep playing until you win. So deal me in for another round.
Happy New Year, Planet Earth. Don't blow yourselves up. We can do this life thing. In fact, we can even make it better. Thus far, statistical estimations have been in our favor. That's enough for us all to deal another round.
